Celebrating the Ordinary

I’m a bit of a loner. Sure I follow the crowd sometimes, but generally speaking I go my own way more often than not. When someone poses a challenge, sometimes I jump in and sometimes I don’t.

This time I am jumping in, at least part way.

A blogging friend, Marie from Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer, put out a “challenge” last week to fellow bloggers. She asked those interested in participating to share a photo each day for one week of someone or something that gives or brings pleasure or a feeling of gratitude into our lives. The intent was to share these photos on our blogs or on Facebook. The intent was to celebrate the ordinary.

Well, I don’t post on my blog every single day. If I tried to keep up with that pace, I’d surely get nothing else done.

Plus, I’m not sure that many people are interested in what I have to say every single day.

I don’t want to push my luck!

I admire bloggers who post daily. I’m not quite sure how they manage.

Anyway, today I am participating.

When Marie posed this challenge, I immediately thought of my family, friends and pets of course, but I also thought of something else quite beautiful and steadfast that brings me a feeling of gratitude each and every day – my own backyard. More specifically, it’s the trees in my yard. Even more specifically, it’s the towering white pines in my backyard.

These marvelous old trees are calming, healing, grounding and simply lovely to look at.

When hubby and I purchased our home here in Wisconsin seven years ago, we made our purchase primarily because of the lot.

The yard is what drew us in, or again, more specifically the trees did. The house was a fixer upper and then some.

Yes, it was the trees that closed the deal for us, and in a sense they continue to “close that deal” every single day.

So, I decided to share a couple photos of “my” towering pines, which of course, belong to no one and certainly not to me. These majestic giants were here long before me and will remain here long after I’m gone. They’re sturdy. They’re reliable. They’re quite spectacular and they bring me pleasure every single day. All I have to do is remember to pause and look at them.

Trees of any variety are great reminders to celebrate the ordinary.

They’re just trees, but to me they’re a whole lot more. (I’ll share more about that sometime).

Now I need to stop “talking” about trees and just share the photos!

Thanks for posing this challenge, Marie.

If you’re also participating in the challenge or decide to later on, feel free to share your link.

I may or may not jump in again this week.

Who knows?

What’s an “ordinary” thing in your life that brings you a feeling of gratitude?

What gorgeous trees, Nancy! No wonder you bought the property. I glimpse the lake behind the trees, too.

My favorite tree has to be the sugar pine, a majestic, soaring species that produces gigantic pine cones that make stunning Christmas ornaments. These trees grow prolifically in the Sierra-Cascade mountains in northern California.

Jan, There’s something special about all pines don’t you think? Something about their enduring beauty season in and season out is quite wonderful. I’ve seen those gigantic pine cones, they are really something! Thanks for commenting and also for taking part in the challenge!

Wow! Those are gorgeous! I’m having trouble getting a handle on how tall they are. They would have sealed the deal for me as well. So different from the Post Oaks and Live Oaks in Texas. The oaks around my Little House are at least 250 years old. We have oak wilt here, which is the kiss of death for oak trees, so I’m really cautious when they need trimming.

Like you, I don’t think I’ll respond every day this week to Marie’s challenge, but I’ll think about it. I posted something, today, so that’s a good start.

Brenda, I’m not exactly sure how tall they are. I’m a very poor judge of that kind of thing. They are pretty tall though, we even have eagles nesting in one of them every year. Your oak trees sound spectacular too. I love oaks. We have quite a few of them as well. I hope they survive the disease threat as losing them would be terrible. Thanks so much for commenting.